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First, the Romans might have taken and disposed of His body. Pontius Pilate, the governor, ordered Roman guards to be placed at the tomb and they might have taken the body of Jesus. But they had a vested interest in seeing that His body stay right where it was. The uproar that His missing body would cause would be a serious deterrent to the peace of the land. After all, the Jews responsible for Jesus' death requested that Pilate post the guards for the very purpose of quelling even the hint of suspicion that Jesus' claim to raise Himself up after three days might come true.

Which brings us to the second possibility - that the Jews themselves might have stolen the body. But why would they do this? They had even a greater interest than the Romans in seeing that the body of Jesus remain in the tomb in which it was placed. The last thing they wanted to see was a missing body, leading to the suspicion that Jesus' claims might after all be true!

The third possibility is that Jesus' disciples stole His body. The Jews circulated this rumor to explain the disappearance (Matthew 28:11-15). But is this a reasonable possibility, given the fact that Jesus' disciples all proclaimed the fact of His resurrection until their own deaths - most of which were the result of martyrdom for the very truth to which they testified. How many instances can you see where people willingly laid down their lives for a lie? This just does not happen. One will die for the truth, but not for a lie.

There is only one explanation for the missing body of Jesus Christ. He actually did rise from the dead just as He claimed He would. And there were many witnesses to that fact. Not only did His disciples and friends claim to have seen Him alive, but the Bible testifies that over five hundred people saw Him alive after His death (1 Corinthians 15:3-7). Many of those were still living when this testimony was written and could easily have refuted it. None did!

Jesus Christ did rise from the dead the third day after His crucifixion, just as He claimed He would. This fact in itself proves that all He claimed about Himself is true!